A Pilot Study of Family Stigma in Alzheimer’s Disease: Slovenian Perspective
Journal Title: Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research - Year 2017, Vol 23, Issue 4
Abstract
Since the population of patients with AD is growing and the disease is affecting more and more people, the main goal of this paper was to investigate the process of stigmatisation of family caregivers, when a family member is facing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The research consists of two parts. Since only a limited number of research and case study reports can be found in the literature, even though the stigma in the context of AD is widely assumed to exist in societies, first the bibliometric analysis was performed. In the second part the empirical research was conducted. Four hypotheses were tested. A pilot random sample consisting of 22 caregivers of family members – patients with AD, was formed. The standardised questionnaire (Werner et al. [1]) was used. Multidimensional variables of cognitive attributes, emotional reactions, caregivers’ stigma, lay persons’ stigma and structural stigma, were formed using exploratory factor analysis, based on KMO statistics and Bartlett test of Sphericity, with principal component analysis and Varimax rotation. Cronbach’s Alphas were used to test the reliability of measurement scales. To test hypotheses, correlations analysis was used (Pearson correlation), at 5% significance level. Four factors for cognitive attributes, five factors for emotional reactions, two factors for caregivers’ stigma, single factor for lay persons’ stigma and four factors for structural stigma were formed. Statistically significant correlations were identified. Bibliometric analysis showed that the research topic of Alzheimer’s disease and caregivers’ variety of problems is an important topic worth researching. The factor analysis and correlation analysis revealed that there are several statistically significant correlations between the multidimensional factors of cognitive attributes, emotional reactions and the three aspects of stigma (caregiver stigma, lay persons’ stigma, structural stigma). The limitations as well as possible continuation of the research are also presented.
Authors and Affiliations
Jure Bele
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP312542
- DOI 10.9734/JAMMR/2017/35029
- Views 65
- Downloads 0
Potassium Bromate Induced Renal Toxicity in Wistar Albino Rats: Effects of Aqueous Extract of Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt)
Much attention has been drawn to the toxic effect of bromate on the organs like liver, spleen etc. However, it is not clear whether or not the toxicity of bromate is related to other vital organs like the kidney. Hence,...
Diagnostic Value of Coronary Artery Calcium Score for Cardiovascular Disease in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study
Background: The role of coronary artery calcium (CAC) as a screening tool for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in African Americans (AAs) is unclear. We compared the diagnostic accuracy for CVD prevalence using the CAC...
The Validity of Poisoning Severity Score in Acute Carbon Monoxide Intoxicated Patients
Background and Objective: The poisoning severity score is a standardized and generally applicable scheme for grading the severity of poisoning. It allows a qualitative evaluation of morbidity and facilitates comparabilit...
Blind Eye Associated with Osteosarcoma
We report the case of a 10 year old girl with a late diagnosis of a high grade osteosarcoma (Stage IIb) of the right femur in a low income setting. The diagnosis could clinically have been made much earlier if the observ...
Demographics and Outcome of Referrals of Critically Ill Patients from a University Teaching Hospital, Uyo, South – South, Nigeria
Background: Referral of critically ill patients from one centre to another is an integral part of healthcare system. Aims: To evaluate the outcome of referral practices from the Intensive Care Unit of the University of U...